SGPC asks Panjab Govt. for Dues, HSGMC Asks for Miri Piri College

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has blamed the Panjab govt. for not releasing the long-pending education grant for eligible students studying in its institutes. The govt. is yet to pay nearly $30M grant to education institutes being run by the SGPC. For the fiscal year 2024-2025, the committee has kept $30M as its total education budget, but the anticipated income from its institutions has been calculated to be close to $27.2M. ‘We expect that around $2.8M would have to be taken out extra from Guru’s Golak (Sikh donation boxes) to meet the shortfall,’ said SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami. Dhami said the body had been bearing extra financial burden which, otherwise, was the liability of the state govt. This was not reported in the budget news last week. Meanwhile, newly elected Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee chief Bhupinder Singh Asandh urged the SGPC to hand over charge of Miri Piri Medical College and Research located in Shahabad Markanda to the Haryana Sikh body. ‘Though the [Outpatient Department] and hospital have been functioning, yet the medical college that was part of the project could not see the light of the day despite the fact that its foundation stone was laid by the SGPC three decades ago.’ The Miri Piri Medical College and Research is run by a trust headed by SGPC president (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 14, Updates).